Friday, 30 September 2016

Just recently one of my social
media pages was clogged with a series of “Blessin’ Gettin’” prophetic quotes
and videos. It seemed that all I had to do was to click on the short video,
watch it, then add a comment to the growing page - to be sure to receive my own portion of the excessively abundant
blessing lined up to flow from the very throne of God to only those in
humanhood fortunate enough to click “like”. To not click “like” and leave a
comment implied that I would in fact NOT appreciate a blessing from the
Lord...and that’s where things started to get awkward. As I scanned through
several of the posted comments, my heart seemed to be torn in a two places. On
the one hand, there are a lot of people out there who genuinely need some type
of divine intervention in their lives - calls for new jobs, healing and
restoration, and strangely, a resounding notion that, “It’s about TIME I received MY Blessing!!” I couldn’t help but feel desperate to point out, that
these good Christians, are solidly missing the point.

Or are they? Have we not been
taught that God loves us, and he shows us that love by showering blessings down
upon us? If God is okay with what we’re doing, we might get the benefit of good
health, food on the table and a nice family. But, if God is really happy with
us, he’s going to bless us (because I’m going to keep telling him to) with
piles of money, the perfect job, the perfect spouse, an exhilaratingly happy
marriage and (when we’re extra special) a position of power and authority and
our own personal following of devout people seeking our unending spiritual
wisdom. Because of course, those are the things that would make us happy.
Therefore, those things are blessings - because we exist for God to make us
happy. Right?

Wrong. I can no longer understand
the attitude toward God that reduces him to a mere genie. Is that really what
we want? Imagine if my relationship with my husband echoed how I’ve treated God
in the past. I would meet him at the door with my hands out, wondering what
he’s brought me after work. When he only brought me one rose, instead of an
entire bouquet, I would pout until dinner time, feeling deeply hurt and
disappointed by him. When he finally put dinner on the table, I would wait
expectantly for an after dinner surprise, and instead when Brad would ask for
help with the dishes, I would pout extra hard, and throw the plates into the
dishwasher. After dinner would likely not be any fun, as Brad might choose to
play online games with his brother. This of course would lead me to growl, snap
and cry until my eyes were swollen slits, after all - why wouldn’t he want to
focus his attention all on me? At bedtime I would give him an earful about how
he needs to think about his treatment of me. Of course, we wouldn’t go to bed
angry - he would apologize.

I highly doubt our marriage would
last very long. Enough. Really, enough. Stop and take a look in the mirror.
What are we doing? The God of the Universe, wants to walk in an intimate
relationship with each one of us, he sent his only son to die so we could be
cleaned of our own sin, and how do we respond? We demand that God finally bless
us, for all of the good we’ve done for him.

I can’t do it any more. My heart
breaks, and cries out. It leaves me no where but feeling lost and deeply alone.
The churning, growing desire for a relationship with God can no longer be
satisfied by a relationship where my hands are held out asking for God to bless
me. The turn has come, and I choose to walk in an intimate relationship with my
Father. It’s terrifying - the control freak in me is rocking back and forth
nervously, repetitively, but it’s time to trust. To put each circumstance of my
life in the hands of my Father, and trust that he holds the outcome in his
hand. To hear his voice say, come walk with me, and from there to
follow.

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My Reasons for Blogging

Speaking what I feel about something is a nearly insurmountable obstacle for me on a regular basis. I find that being able to write a blog about what is going on behind the smile on my face, makes me feel like I am being honest with the world.